KAMB's temporary field command center had been assembled fast, which meant it looked exactly like something built by people who expected disaster and only had an hour to decorate it.
Portable walls. Fold-out consoles. Too many cables. Too much light. Too many exhausted officials pretending they were still fresh.
Aurora had been directed there immediately after the media window. Lucien stepped inside, looked around once, and said, "I miss chairs that belong to me."
"You don't deserve chairs that belong to you," Mira said.
"That felt personal."
"It was tired."
Kaida was already scanning the room. "Command uplink. Tactical display. Live secure channel. They really are doing the second-wave review right now."
Mira looked at the ceiling like she was appealing to fate directly. "Can't national emergencies at least wait until we've washed our faces?"
"No," Seris said.
"That was cruelly immediate."
Garrick exhaled once and leaned against the nearest temporary partition. "We knew this was happening."
"Yes," Mira said. "Understanding something does not make it less offensive."
Kairos stayed close to Seris, still a little quieter than usual but steadier than he had been immediately after the gate. Nox said nothing. He rarely did in rooms like this unless there was something worth saying. That made it worse when he did.
Orion was already at one of the side stations, plugging into the secure channel with the kind of calm that suggested he'd been born operating emergency systems. The main wall display flickered once, then opened into a multi-feed conference grid.
KAMB central command came first. Adrian Cross appeared at the center screen, Cassian Verity beside him, both looking irritatingly functional for this hour. Then the guild feeds opened one by one.
Regulated Order appeared first. Elias seated at the front. Helena beside him. Caelum upright as ever. Viktor in the background looking like he could physically threaten a camera if needed.
Tempest Choir came next. Elara Voss looked tired, but not shaken. A few of her members behind her looked like they had been dragged through wind and bad decisions and survived on spite.
Iron Bastion appeared after that. Ronan Calder sat squarely in frame with the kind of battered steadiness that said his gate had not been pleasant but had still made the mistake of underestimating him.
Crimson Banner opened last. Darius Kade looked exactly like a man who had cleared a B-rank gate and was still somehow offended by the experience. One of his members was absent. That became important immediately.
Cross didn't waste time. "All first-wave gates have been cleared."
That settled across the room. No celebration. Just relief. Real and heavy. Cross continued, "No fatalities have been reported across first-wave guild deployments."
Mira pointed upward once. "I would like credit for manifesting that outcome."
Lucien looked at her. "That is not how anything works."
"It should be."
Cross was still speaking. "There is, however, one severe injury on Crimson Banner's side. Non-fatal. Stabilized, but not field-ready."
That made Seris look up. Not because he said severe. Because Darius's jaw tightened half a fraction when Cross said it. Cross shifted to the tactical board. "Before second-wave release, first-wave leaders will give short status confirmations. Regulated Order."
Elias answered first, voice even as always. "Gate cleared. Team stable. No casualties."
Cross nodded. "Tempest Choir."
Elara tilted her head once. "Cleared. No fatalities. Several minor injuries. Nothing worth dramatic poetry."
Mira looked delighted. "I really like her."
Seris chose not to respond.
"Iron Bastion," Cross said.
Ronan gave a single nod. "Cleared. Team operational."
Then Cross looked toward Crimson's feed. "Crimson Banner."
Darius answered like the question itself had annoyed him. "Gate cleared."
Cross waited. After a beat, Darius added, "One severe injury. No deaths."
Seris had already made the decision before anyone else could. "I can treat them."
That shifted several screens at once. Crimson's side went still. Darius looked at her. "No."
Lucien sighed quietly. "There it is."
Seris didn't blink. "You have a heavily injured member and a second wave tomorrow."
Darius's expression hardened. "Crimson Banner is capable of handling its own people."
Kaida, who had spent enough time exhausted today to lose patience for pride, spoke before anyone else could. "Then handle them intelligently."
That bought a moment of surprised silence from almost every channel. Mira actually sat up. Kaida kept going, flat and merciless. "This is not a dignity contest. It's a twelve-gate emergency."
Lucien looked at her and mouthed, wow.
Cassian, to his credit, looked faintly interested rather than offended. Seris folded her arms. "I'm not asking you to like the offer."
Darius's eyes narrowed. "You assume a lot."
Garrick finally spoke, voice low and steady. "She's trying to make sure your people survive wave two."
That one landed better. Probably because it was harder to argue with Garrick without sounding foolish. Elara leaned into frame slightly from the Tempest feed and said, "Don't be stupid."
Darius looked at her in disbelief. Elara shrugged. "You know I'm right."
Ronan added, because apparently today was the day other guildmasters lost patience with Crimson's pride, "Take the healer."
That did it. Darius looked away once, jaw tight, then back at the screen. "...Fine."
Mira whispered, "Nature is healing."
Lucien elbowed her lightly. "Behave."
Seris only nodded once. "Send me the injury file after this."
Darius didn't thank her. No one expected him to. Cross moved on before anyone could make the moment worse.
"Aurora Covenant."
Lucien answered. "A-rank gate cleared. No fatalities. Team functional."
Cross looked at Nox for half a second, then back to the board. "Good."
That was as close to praise as this room was getting. The tactical board behind Cross shifted. First-wave gates turned green. Remaining gates stayed red. Second-wave and third-wave sequencing appeared only in the internal command layer now that the first clears were confirmed.
Kaida leaned forward slightly. "There it is."
Mira squinted at the screen. "I hate when you say things like that."
"It means I was right."
"That's what I hate."
Cross continued, "Second-wave deployments will begin tomorrow morning."
That got a collective, exhausted silence from all five guild feeds. Not protest. Just the sound of five teams doing the math on how little time that actually was.
Lucien rubbed a hand over his face. "Wonderful."
Mira looked at the screen. "I would like to formally object to tomorrow existing."
"No," said three people at once.
Cross ignored them all with professional grace. "Guild recovery, treatment, and resupply windows are active until 0800."
Then his gaze shifted slightly. "One more issue before second-wave confirmation."
Kaida muttered, "Here it comes."
Cross looked directly at Aurora's feed now. "Your media statement."
Mira leaned toward Lucien and whispered, "We're in trouble."
"We're always in trouble."
Cross's expression remained neutral. "Several higher administrative offices were not pleased with Aurora's level of transparency."
Lucien crossed his arms. "That sounds like their problem."
Kaida shot him a look that said please do not escalate the government while exhausted. Cross, however, didn't seem particularly bothered.
"For the record," he said, "KAMB will continue prioritizing public awareness where appropriate."
That shifted the mood again. Not softer. Just clearer.
Nox spoke then, calm as ever. "We're not retracting it."
Cross nodded once. "I assumed not."
Cassian finally stepped in. "The public already knows enough to be afraid. Withholding useful information does not improve that."
That sounded, for Cassian, unusually generous. One of the analysts behind Cross looked like she wanted to frame the sentence. A reporter-style question came instead from Helena on Regulated Order's screen.
"You confirmed the existence of a new reward class."
Kaida answered. "Yes."
"Artifact," Helena said.
Not a question. A statement. Several screens sharpened at that.
Cross folded his hands. "Can Aurora confirm whether they intend to cooperate with KAMB review once preliminary internal assessment is complete?"
Lucien looked at Nox.
Nox answered. "Yes."
That got Cassian's full attention. Not dramatic. Just absolute. Nox continued, "We assess first. We share after."
Cross nodded once. "Understood."
Cassian spoke next. "No other first-wave guild reported artifact-class rewards."
That changed the room. Even Darius looked irritated in a more focused direction now.
Kaida blinked. "Only us?"
"Yes," Cassian said.
"Which means?" Lucien asked.
Cassian answered the way he always did — like he was placing weights on a scale. "It suggests artifact emergence is tied to gates of higher reward threshold."
Mira frowned. "That sounded important."
"It is," Kaida said.
Cassian continued, "At present, the only confirmed artifact-bearing gate is Aurora's A-rank clear."
There it was. The thing that would make KAMB curious for days. The thing that would make some people greedy. The thing that would make Kaida, Orion, and Seris impossible to live with once they had time to examine their own. And Nox knew all of that before anyone else in the room fully understood why it mattered.
He also knew something else. The Veilmarked Needle was not the kind of artifact that should be mentioned casually in front of governments. Good. That part of the day had passed.
Cross brought the meeting back before the artifact thread could turn into a feeding frenzy. "Second-wave assignments are confirmed as follows."
The tactical board shifted.
Second Assignment
Aurora Covenant — E-Rank Gate
Regulated Order — C-Rank Gate
Crimson Banner — C-Rank Gate
Iron Bastion — D-Rank Gate
Tempest Choir — D-Rank Gate
Mira stared. "Did we get demoted?"
Lucien looked at her. "We got breathing room."
Kaida tilted her head. "Generous breathing room."
Cassian answered without being asked. "After an A-rank clear, yes."
Ronan gave a short nod from Iron Bastion's feed. "Reasonable."
Darius looked like he resented the concept of reason. Elara, meanwhile, laughed softly. "You get the nightmare gate and then a short one. How charitable."
Lucien leaned back slightly. "That almost sounded like concern."
"It wasn't."
"Sure."
Kairos had gone quiet again, but this time not from fear. From relief. Seris noticed immediately. Of course she did. Cross gave final timing instructions, resupply windows, route packet release, and rest directives that sounded far kinder on paper than they did in reality.
Then the secure meeting began to break apart. Feeds dropping one by one. Ronan first. Then Elara. Then Crimson, after Cross reminded Darius to send Seris the injury file and Darius looked like he wanted to fight the concept of being helped personally.
Regulated Order remained a moment longer. Elias looked at Aurora's screen, then at Nox. No words. Just a look that said enough. Then his feed cut too.
At last only KAMB remained. Cross looked tired for the first time all evening. "Get some rest."
Mira looked around the temporary command center. "In here?"
Cross ignored that. Cassian looked at Aurora's feed one last time. "Do not damage the artifacts before logging baseline readings."
Kaida immediately straightened. "You say that like that was a possibility."
Cassian's gaze drifted toward Mira.
Mira looked offended. "Unfair."
Then KAMB's feed cut. The command room went quiet. For exactly two seconds.
Then Mira said, "I hate that tomorrow is real."
Lucien looked at the darkened screen and muttered, "At least it's only E-rank."
Nox said nothing. Because tomorrow's gate being E-rank didn't comfort him at all. Not with the country like this. Not with gates shifting. Not with artifacts now in play. And not with four pairs of eyes in Aurora that had started watching him differently after the A-rank raid.
The second wave could wait until morning. The consequences of everything else probably wouldn't.